You know how we said that summer means wedding or graduation season, so you must know how to congratulate your Greek friends and family in Greek. Well, it seems that birthday season is year-round so knowing what to tell your Greek people in their own language is always needed. Luckily for you, Greek LOL is here to give you the most popular and most common birthday wishes in Greek.
Χρόνια Πολλά! Let’s start with the most common one, shall we? Hronia Polla, literally translates to Many Years and it is again one of those times that Greeks congratulate the birthday boy or girl wishing and hoping for longevity and prosperity. You might have heard the song Na Ziseis na ziseis kai Xronia Polla! If not, have a look.
Να τα εκατοστήσεις! Na ta ekatostiseis is another very popular wish used to hope once again for longevity! This phrase basically means “I hope you live to be 100 years old” and when living to be 100 started to sound as something easily achieved, people began to use a similar wish Να τα χιλιάσεις (Na ta hiliaseis), “I hope you live to be 1000!”
Ό,τι επιθυμείς! It could sound like a “lazy” wish since O,ti epithimeis basically means I wish whatever you wish for. However, it is very commonly used for birthdays and it’s actually a very positive and thoughtful wish since you are in reality saying “I truly wish for all your dreams and desires to come true.”
Other things that Greeks say on birthdays is Να ζήσεις (na ziseis), meaning “to live” or Χαρούμενα Γενέθλια (haroumena genethlia), which literally means Happy Birthday but is not actually that common in modern Greek. However, if you really want to sound like a Greek when you wish somebody a Happy Birthday, the most realistic thing to do would be to combine all the above. Χρόνια Πολλά, “Μαρία” ! Εύχομαι να τα εκατοστήσεις, να τα χιλιάσεις και ό,τι επιθυμείς! Happy Birthday to all the summer babies!
Wishes in Greek for new babies
Wishes in Greek for graduations
Wishes in Greek for the first day of School
